Jalen Duren

The eye test is always dangerous when evaluating players, but Duren was a beast in the final months of his rookie season. The big man took on a much bigger workload when Bojan Bogdanovic and Isaiah Stewart went down, averaging 10.6 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 0.7 steals and 0.9 blocks on 66 percent shooting over the final 44 games. Seeing a rookie grab double-digit boards is ridiculous, but it was evident that Duren doesn't play like a 19-year-old. All of that should theoretically make Duren a fantasy darling this year, but the context of this roster is a concern for fantasy managers. Not only are Bogdanovic and Stewart expected to be fully healthy, but James Wiseman and Marvin Bagley were thrown into the mix as well. Having that many young big men on a roster makes projecting minutes difficult. It's clear as day that Duren is the one worth building around, but this team has shown us that all three guys will get minutes. That means Duren could be capped at 25 minutes for most of the season, but he's already shown us he can be productive in that role. That's why he'll likely fall outside the Top 100 in most drafts, even though he's one of the most promising big men in the league.

The Pistons selected Duren with the 13th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft following his lone season at Memphis, where the 6-foot-11 big averaged 12.0 points on 59.7 percent shooting, 8.1 rebounds (3.0 offensive), 2.1 blocks, 1.3 assists and 0.8 steals in 25.2 minutes. He was named AAC Freshman of the Year and to the All-AAC First Team. He finished with a successful Summer League venture, averaging 11.3 points on 65.0 percent shooting to go along with 3.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.0 assists. The 18-year-old is an excellent athlete known for his shot-blocking and interior scoring, the latter of which should prove especially useful in an offense with a capable lob-thrower in Cade Cunningham. The catch is that he is prone to mental lapses, such as missing box-outs and getting into foul trouble. His post game is also weak and his free-throw percentage (62.5%) is relatively poor, but these criticisms are common for most big men who end up in the late lottery. Duren is competing against Isaiah Stewart, Marvin Bagley and Nerlens Noel for minutes. Stewart had an underwhelming sophomore campaign and is undersized while Noel is a veteran (28 years old) and doesn't have any development upside for Detroit, so there's a path, in theory, for Duren to make an impact. However, early reports indicate Duren may spend significant time in the G League. If that's the case, he can't be drafted in standard leagues.